The claim: Prime Minister Theresa May said that the Conservatives had, over the past seven years, cut the nation's deficit as a share of GDP by almost three-quarters.

Reality Check verdict: The amount being borrowed each year has been reduced from 9.9% of GDP when the coalition government took power in 2010 to 2.6% of GDP in 2016 under the Conservative government, a reduction of almost three-quarters. But while the amount being borrowed each year has been falling, the overall debt is still rising.

Prime Minister Theresa May said that Conservative-led governments had dramatically reduced the deficit since 2010.

At a news conference on Wednesday she said: "Over the last seven years... we have taken the British economy out of the danger zone. The deficit has come down by almost three-quarters as a share of GDP."

To examine that claim let's first clear up what we are actually talking about.

Deficit

This is the difference between the amount the government spends and how much it receives in taxes and other income.

If the government spends more than it takes in, then it's in deficit. If it receives more than it spends, it's in surplus.

Every month the Office for National Statistics (ONS) measures the deficit using a specific figure: public sector net borrowing.

That might sound technical, but it's just how much the government has borrowed to cover its shortfall, minus items like cash and other liquid assets.

Importantly the figure excludes borrowing by Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 73% owned by the government.

That is such a huge number that it would dominate the figures if it was included.

Debt

So what happens when the government spends more than it takes in?

Well, it borrows and that borrowing is added to the overall debt pile.

The accepted and widely used figure for debt is actually the net debt of the UK; in other words, the total debt minus the government's liquid assets.

An easy way to compare debt levels across different countries is to express debt as a percentage of total economic output, or GDP, which is why you'll hear commentators talk about the debt-to-GDP ratio.

The government can't start cutting the debt pile until it starts running a surplus, which means eliminating that pesky deficit.

So what's been happening to the deficit?

In 2010 when the coalition government took over, the new chief secretary to the Treasury was famously left a note by his predecessor.